Culture includes everything - Traditional and contemporary. Language, stories - music, all performing arts, etc. This forum is a place to share our culture - to inform, educate and enlighten - ourselves and others.

When the National Museum of the American Indian officially opens September 21st, a Hopi warrior will be honoured. 23 year old Lori Piestewa, a mother of two youngsters, was the first American servicewoman killed in Iraq.

In Washington, DC this coming September, a Hopi Nation Honor Guard will be part of a procession of thousands who will gather at the museum, at the foot of Capitol Hill.

The museum's Honor Wall will include Lori Piestwa's name, and has space for 50,000 names of those people who contributed $150 or more to help build the $199 million, five-storey museum.

-------

Following are publications being prepared for the grand opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. All publications will be available at the museum’s shops on the National Mall or on the museum’s Web site ( http://www.AmericanIndian.si.edu ) as opening day draws near. Price information will be available in the coming months.

• Native Universe: Voices of Indian America – This signature book will be co-published by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the National Geographic Society in conjunction with the opening of the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Featuring essays by a distinguished group of Native American scholars, writers, activists, and tribal leaders, the book complements the themes of themuseum’s opening exhibitions. Co-edited by author, editor, and professor Clifford E. Trafzer, of Wyandot ancestry, and Gerald McMaster (Plains Cree and member of the Siksika Nation), NMAI deputy assistant director for cultural resources and director's special assistant for Mall Exhibitions, the book includes additional sidebars on selected subjects; more than 300 full-color illustrations that depict the spectacular artistry of Native American culture; and insightful extended captions.

• Spirit of a Native Place – This publication will highlight the process of building the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall. Duane Blue Spruce, NMAI facilities planning coordinator, is the general editor of this book. A history of the museum and the story of its design process will be featured. Former NMAI Public Affairs Director Liz Hill will contribute a chapter on moving the George Gustav Heye collection from New York to the Washington area. Many architectural photographs anddrawings, including historic images, will be used as illustrations.

• Native Modernism: The Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser – In conjunction with the museum’s inaugural exhibition in its gallery of contemporary art—a landmark retrospective of paintings, drawings, and sculptures by two giants of modern Native American art—the museum is publishing a groundbreaking book of essays, edited by artist and NMAI curator Truman Lowe (Ho-Chunk), that will explore Houser’s and Morrison’s work in the context of contemporary art, Native American art history, and cultural identity. Essayists include Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), distinguished writer and scholar Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe), and contemporary artist Gail Tremblay (Onondaga/Mi’kmaq).

• The National Museum of the American Indian Map and Guide – This guidebook will introduce museum visitors to the Mall building and its landscape and will walk the visitor through the exhibitions and other aspects of the building. The book will be published in conjunction with Scala Publishers, and will be similar in format and design to guides theyhave published for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The heavily illustrated guidebook will include color key and fold-out style map and floor plans and will provide information on collection highlights.

• Foods of the Americas – Following in the footsteps of the museum’s Mitsitam Café, this illustrated full-color cookbook is co-authored by the café’s menu planners, chef Fernando Divina and Marlena Divina (Chippewa). The cookbook will present modern recipes that incorporate foods cultivated by Native people of the Western Hemisphere, and willinclude guest essays designed to provide an American Indian perspective on indigenous food traditions. The book will be co-published by Ten Speed Press.

• My World: Young Native Americans Today – Each book in this series for young adults presents a glimpse into the life of a contemporary young American Indian – introducing readers to the modern culture of their tribes, while celebrating their Native American history and traditions. Each book is created by a Native author and photographer. The first book in the series, Meet Naiche, was published in fall 2002. The second title, MeetMindy, will be published in May 2003. The third book in this series, Meet Lydia, will be published in September 2004.

• Small Spirits: Native American Dolls from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian – This is a revised, redesigned edition of a 1986 landmark publication by the Museum of the American Indian, that centered on the museum’s doll collection. Original author and museum curator Mary Jane Lenz has revised and updated her original text and completely new photography has been added. The dolls featured in Small Spirits will be showcased in the museum on the National Mall in a section of an exhibition titled Windows on the Collection: Many Voices, Many Hands.

• Museum Brochures – The museum will produce two general brochures in conjunction with the September 2004 opening of the museum on the Mall. The first will be a general museum information brochure that contains information about the history of the museum and the collection, as well as a building overview highlighting the major features of the museum. The second brochure will feature information on the three major permanentexhibitions within the building – Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World; Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories; and Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities, and information on the opening temporary exhibition Native Modernism:

The Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser. Each brochure will be full-color and will be available to museum visitors.

• American Indian Magazine – This award-winning full-color magazine is a benefit of membership in the museum. It focuses about Native traditions and communities. The magazine is published by the museum’s Public Affairs Office.

Established in 1989, through an Act of Congress, the National Museum of the American Indian is an institution of living cultures dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history and arts of the Native peoples of the western hemisphere. The museum includes the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall, the George Gustav Heye Center, apermanent exhibition and education facility in New York City and the Cultural Resources Center, a research and collections facility in Suitland, Md.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The National Museum of the American Indian cuts a dramatic figure on the National Mall.

Nestled amid gray and pink marble Smithsonian buildings and the U.S.
Capitol, the curvilinear, earth-tone, limestone structure rises out of the ground as if it were a rock that had existed on that location long before the pilgrims landed on the shores of present-day Massachusetts.

"The building is meant to look as being of the earth ... carved and shaped by wind and water," said museum Director Richard West Jr. "We look to nature as our inspiration for how we design building structures. You find very few straight lines and right angles in nature."

The building's design also provides a touchstone for the spirituality of
Native Americans.

"Our spirituality is something, a quality, that pervades all of our life," said West, a United Methodist Native American. "It is an attitude toward life and a sense of the potential and expanse of life here on earth, not only in the form of us two-leggeds but also in four-leggeds and in living forms from plants to rocks. It's that dimension of respect for life that is at the core of native spirituality."

West believes that philosophy melds seamlessly with Methodism. "I see no
conflict between the two," he said. "They are both about reaching beyond
ourselves to seek as good a definition as we can get of higher being, if you will - approaching the divine and seeking to find balance in our lives and making our lives whole. Native spiritual practice and good Christian practice try to do the same thing."

*Schoeff is a correspondent for the Baltimore-Washington Annual
Conference's UMConnection newspaper. This story first appeared in that paper.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - When Richard West Jr. was traveling to Washington 14 years ago for the announcement of his appointment as the founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian, its role in the Smithsonian Institution became apparent to him.

He was telling a flight attendant about his new job and his own heritage
as a chief of the Southern Cheyenne Tribe. She was caught by surprise.

"She said, 'Oh my, I thought they were all dead'," West said in recounting her reaction to meeting a Native American. Changing that mindset is one of the challenges facing the museum, which opens Sept. 21.

"It's exactly that kind of thing, that we're all dead, that the culture is dying; I beg to differ, frankly," West said in an interview from his museum office with a panoramic view of the National Mall and the U.S.
Capitol. In fact, after suffering a demographic collapse from a population of between 6 million and 9 million to about 250,000 by 1900, the number of Native Americans now exceeds 2 million and is growing.

"It's more than just numbers, it's a qualitative judgment, too," said West, 61. "The fact is, I think, there is a cultural renaissance going on in Indian country right now that is truly profound. The attitude of native peoples toward themselves and their culture is vastly different today - far more affirmative than it was when I was growing up."

The museum, with centers in New York and Maryland in addition to the $200 million Mall landmark, houses 800,000 artifacts and is designed to
emphasize Native American vibrancy.

"There's something about the very term 'museum' that seems inherently
retrospective because it's talking about preserving and conserving and
going to see ancient objects on the walls," West said. "I really see,
notwithstanding our name, the National Museum of the American Indian as
being an international institution of living cultures and of the hemisphere."

The inaugural ceremonies on Sept. 21 will capture that spirit by including a procession of about 20,000 Native Americans down the Mall and a First Americans Festival that will last through the weekend, featuring more than 200 native artists, musicians and storytellers from throughout the hemisphere.

In addition to his official activities, West will be recognized during services at Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Washington on Sept. 26. West and his family have been members of the church for about 25 years.

"We are excited about the opening of this museum because it reminds
America of the continuing contributions of Native Americans to the
well-being of the country," said the Rev. David Wilson, superintendent of
the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference of the United Methodist Church. "We look at it as something for the present and future of the Native people."

Wilson, a member of the Choctaw Tribe who will participate in the Sept. 26 service at Metropolitan Memorial, praised West's leadership. "He's very well thought of among people of all tribes," he said. "I'm proud he's a United Methodist as well."

The United Methodist Church has distinguished itself in the Native American community, said West, who was raised as an American Baptist.
"I have always found the Methodists open to the social issues that confront
native peoples. And that was very important to me ... because not all
churches were as active on as wide a range of issues as Methodists were
in looking to the social and cultural welfare of native peoples."

*Schoeff is a correspondent for the Baltimore-Washington Annual
Conference's UMConnection newspaper. This story first appeared in that paper.

Oneida Nation Homelands— Visitors to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian are encouraged to begin their tour on the fourth floor, the level named for the Oneida Indian Nation. Featured on this top floor is a pause area and in it is the statue “Allies in War, Partners in Peace,” a bronze embodiment of the alliance and friendship forged between the Oneida Nation and the United States during the Revolutionary War.

The 19 ½ foot tall, 2,200 lb. statue created by Utah sculptor Edward Hlavka depicts Oneida Chief Oskanondohna and an Oneida woman, Polly Cooper, along with Gen.George Washington. The statue is a commemoration of the bonds between the Oneida Nation and the United States.

“We wanted a statue that would tell the story of how the Oneidas embraced the colonists’ cause of freedom, fighting beside their colonial friends and aiding them in their time of need,” said Keller George, Wolf Clan Representative to the Oneida Nation’s Men’s Council, and a member of the museum’s board of trustees. “We also wanted symbols of importance in our culture depicted, and I think the artist captured all these elements, telling our story as we have told it for generations.”

Oneidas fought alongside the colonists in key battles of the war, including Oriskany and Saratoga. The alliance was further cemented when Oneida leader Han Yerry and a group of Oneidas walked from their home in Central New York to Valley Forge, a journey of more than 400 miles, during the winter of 1777-78, carrying life-saving corn to feed the starving soldiers. With them traveled Polly Cooper, who taught the soldiers how to prepare the corn.

During the Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington asserted that “[t]he Oneidas have manifested the strongest attachment to us throughout the dispute.”

As depicted, Washington is holding a wampum belt, which symbolizes an agreement between the U.S. and the Oneida Nation, and acknowledges that neither will interfere in the internal affairs of the other.

A white pine tree in the background looms high above the three figures. The white pine bears significance to the Oneida Nation and the other nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. The Peacemaker united the warring Indian nations with his message of the Great Law of Peace, unearthing the white pine tree and burying the weapons of war beneath its roots. A hatchet is buried under the tree in the sculpture, signifying this event.

High atop the branches of the formidable pine is an eagle, ready to warn the nations of approaching danger. Five bound arrows, symbolizing the union of the nations of the confederacy, are shown in the base at the back of the work. Also in the tree is a rock, which was used by the Oneidas to mark boundary lines.

Several icons of the Oneida Nation are also embedded in the statue. The turtle, wolf and bear have prominent places in the statue as they represent the three clans of the Oneida Nation.

The Three Sisters -- the sustainers of life -- corn, beans and squash are also represented in the intricately detailed work.

In the back of the statue a little girl is rendered clutching a no-face doll. The child represents the seventh generation to come – the future. The no-face doll’s story is an allegory told by Oneidas to teach children about the foibles of vanity.

U.S. President George Bush met with Tribal leaders at the White House and in his address he commented on the National Museum of the American Indian officially opened earlier this week . . .

“Native Americans have supported this country during its times of need. And their contributions have made America stronger and better. Decades ago, there were some who viewed American Indians as the vanishing Americans, people on the margins of our national life. Yet, the exhibits in the new museum, and the museum, itself, carry a different message. Many of its staff and curators are Native Americans, and the exhibits are created in close consultation with the tribes.

“The National Museum of the American Indian shows how your ancestors once lived, and it does much more than that. It affirms that you and your tribal governments are strong and vital today, and provides a place to celebrate your present achievements and your deepest hopes for the future. It allows all Americans to experience the rich culture of the American Indian.

“Native American cultures survive and flourish when tribes retain control over their own affairs and their own future. That is why, earlier this morning, I signed an executive memorandum to all federal agencies reaffirming the federal government's longstanding commitment to respect tribal sovereignty and self-determination. My government will continue to honor this government-to-government relationship.

“Long before others came to the land called America, the story of this land was yours, alone. Indians on this continent had their own languages and customs, just as you have today. They had jurisdiction over their lands and territories, just as you have today. And these sovereign tribal nations had their own systems of self-governance, just as you have today.

“The National Museum of the American Indian affirms that this young country is home to an ancient, noble and enduring native culture. And all Americans are proud of that culture. Like many Indian dwellings, the new museum building faces east, toward the rising sun. And as we celebrate this new museum and we look to the future, we can say that the sun is rising on Indian country.

A true warrior
is taught not to fear death,
but to fear life not lived honorably.
One’s path is not chosen for him.
One must choose what he or she believes to be true
and find that path, and walk along it with dignity,
self-respect and optimism.
We stand by our actions and take responsibility for
where we are in this life.

We are all warriors,
yet we walk along a different path –
a path that is determined by the sign posts we see…
those things which determine,
for each of us, the ethics and values that are the
rules by which we live.